Unlocked Turbo i7-2920xm using Throttlestop. Now locked again...

Hi.

I am the proud owner of a Clevo P170HM based notebook. After noticing my pocessor was never going into Turbo mode I started researching.

First I installed Intel XTU: didn't work.

Installed latest BIOS. Then installed Intel XTU 2.1: success!

Tried increasing the Turbo multi: nothing happened.

Discovered Throttlestop, changed some settings: Turbo unlocked!


I had the Turbo unlocked for about a day: I was able to set it to 45x without adjusting Watts / Volts. Using 4 threads CPU would throttle back to 3,5GHz, nearing 100C (Yes I have a small cooler), but using 1 it would remain at 4,5GHz indefinitely. Very nice result.

To get some more info on the CPU I proceeded to install CPU-Z as well. Got an error message while installing but the program worked. Turned off computer.

Turned on computer next day: no more Turbo boost. I have tried uninstalling CPU-Z, Throttlestop and XTU, cleaning the registry and reinstalling Throttlestop and XTU, changing settings and rebooting about 25 times, everything I can think of but no cigar...

Any advice would be much appreciated.

BR. Elwin


PS. In Throttlestop some functions are greyed out. For instance, the power and current limit registers are locked. XTU lets me increase Voltage and Watts but the increase does not show up in Throttlestop.

Also, when it was working, I needed to have Throttlestop running in order to use the Turbo. No problem of course just starting it with Windows, but isn't that strange?

 

ThrottleStop and XTU write data to some of the same registers so running them both at the same time might cause them to interfere with each other. How about reboot and only run ThrottleStop by itself for the moment. Can you post a screen shot of ThrottleStop while running a single thread of the TS Bench test. Also post a screen shot with the Turbo Ratio Limits window opened up.

I am just working on better compatibility between ThrottleStop and XTU at the moment so seeing some more data might help me out.

 

Hey Unclewebb,

I was hoping for your reply. Thanks very much!

So, today I turn the computer on and the Turbo was working again. Very strange.

Anyway, I made the screenshot you asked for. I think that the power options are indeed locked.




I also replaced the old thermal paste wich some Tuniq TX-2 I bought and the result is remarkable! The person who put the original paste on apparently got a little carried away with the amount. Before, when I ran 2 threads on 100% the CPU would start thermal throtteling back from 100C, but now I can run 8 threads and not hit 90C on full 100% load and 4,5GHz!



Unclewebb, could you confirm that my voltages are locked? Is there anything I can to to unlock them, as I seem to have a little play regarding temps after all?

BR.
Elwin:hi2:

 

You're getting lots of turbo boost today.

I have an Asus desktop motherboard with a 3570K. Sometimes when I boot up, ThrottleStop is locked out so you can not increase the multiplier any higher than the bios sets it. After I go into stand by mode and then come out, the CPU is set up differently and ThrottleStop can be used to increase the multi higher. There are at least 4 different registers that can be used to limit the amount of turbo boost. There is still one magic register that I don't know about yet. As soon as I have some time, I am going to do some further testing and maybe finally get this figured out.

The TPL window shows that your power limits are locked by the bios. Without an unlocked bios, there is nothing that ThrottleStop can do. Once the power limit register is locked in the bios, software can not unlock it after you boot up. Your long term power limit is only 55W which is not enough to run the 45 multi when all 4 cores are fully loaded with Prime95 or LinX. The multiplier will get throttled back to keep within the long term 55W turbo power limit.

 

Exactly. I just tried running it with Prime95. It will maintain 100% load @ 4,5GHz at around 63Watts for 25 seconds. Then back to 55W.

I must say I am already very happy with the current overclock: up to 80% faster than before! Although more is always better... I have been searching for an unlocked BIOS but haven't found it. Would you know where to look for a Clevo P170HM?

BR. ELwin

 

Your TPL screen shot shows that 68 Watts is the short term power limit and then after that the multiplier will be reduced to bring it under the 55 Watt long term limit.

I haven't heard of any modified P170HM bios versions but have a look in that specific forum and maybe you will find something.

If you could change a couple of bits in that power register, you could be running fully loaded with the 45 multi day and night. Maybe someday. The unlocked bios for the M18x-R2 has these features unlocked.

 

Yes, I have look but I haven't found. I am not going to attemp to edit the BIOS this myself. I am too scared.

The Turbo has been working eversince my last post so I am very happy!

I have one very small point on which you might improve Trottlestop:



If you look at the attached image, I have Throttlestop show the current Multiplyer in the taskbar. In the Notification Area I have the option to display the Muliplyer icon and not the Throttlestop icon, but for some reason when I reboot only the Throttlestop icon shows and not the Multiplyer and I have to set it again.

Could you make it so that it is possible just to show the current Multiplyer or is it Windows 7 that is controlling this behaviour?

 

ThrottleStop is not compatible with the Windows 7 hide the icons feature. If you use Show All Icons, ThrottleStop should work OK and be able to show you what you want to see.